Microsoft’s idea of force including apps with Windows isn’t going away anytime soon. The latest example is the pre-inclusion of the Microsoft 365 Copilot app for users who have the Microsoft 365 desktop apps on their system.
The Redmond giant announced the change on the Microsoft 365 Admin portal and will start rolling out the change next month, which is October 2025. So, don’t be surprised if you see a new entry in the Start menu and start wondering if you installed the app willingly. Other than that, Microsoft doesn’t share any more details about the app’s functioning and whether it is removable or not.
Admins have an option to block this default installation in their organization if they don’t really see the scope of AI inclusion in Office apps. However, there’s a huge point that Microsoft misses, which is “choice.”
Pre-installing apps, especially on an enterprise device (or even consumer), isn’t a good idea. Since it already has a Copilot app, adding one specifically for Microsoft 365 doesn’t make sense. It’s an additional burden on admins to configure the policy to prevent its automatic installation. Microsoft seems to love making decisions for everyone, especially when installing an app automatically and then offering a way to stop it.
Copilot is already present in multiple Office apps, but this one seems to be specifically for the Microsoft 365 app. It’ll help you search for files related to a specific project, offer agents to automate tasks, and basically all other AI features of Copilot.
EEA region users are the only ones unaffected by this change because of the new rules. Microsoft cannot force apps and services in their faces before asking permission, which is why the OS and service experience is a lot better there.
Microsoft 365 rebranding
A few months ago, we covered a story of Microsoft rebranding the 365 app and Copilot app for enterprise consumers to something more confusing. Both these apps’ new naming scheme makes them unnecessarily long to remember and use. We agree that Copilot is useful to some extent, but changing every service name to Copilot isn’t appealing at all.
Imagine them naming PowerPoint to PowerPoint Copilot next because it shows the app has AI integration. It’s silly and pointless, but since it’s already decided, we have to accept it and now remember new names.
